The running of the web in the initial end of the dryer section is often the most critical stage, because the percentage of moisture in the web is still considerably high and the risk of break of the web is then also higher than in the final end of the dryer section. In conventional dryer sections with single-wire draw, thus, the first drying group is, as a rule, the drying group that determines the speed of the whole machine. In the prior art, attempts have been made to minimize these problems of runnability by first shifting from twin-wire draw to single-wire draw, by developing various devices that stabilize the run of the web, such as, for example, UR blow boxes, and by substituting for the reversing cylinders in the single-wire draw by suction rolls, such as, for example, Vac rolls. Further, in order to provide a more efficient support, the vacuum levels in the suction rolls have been increased, which, of course, increases the consumption of energy in the paper machine. As is known from the prior art, attempts have also been made to reduce the problems of runnability in the initial end of the dryer section by, in the beginning of the dryer section, fitting a substantially horizontal wire draw on which the web is dried by blowing hot air against the web. One problem in this solution is the space taken by the impingement drying arrangements. In the present patent application, it is suggested that, at least in the first drying group, in stead of an ordinary drying wire, a so-called transfer belt is employed, which is such a belt element that transfers the web whose face is smooth and whose adhesion properties are good. The web adheres to the face of the transfer belt. Further, the transfer belt is impenetrable by air and water. When a transfer belt in accordance with the invention is used, no separate web support blowing or equivalent is needed, but tie transfer belt alone operates as an element that transfers and affixes the web. Owing to the belt, the running of the web is stable. Owing to said web affixing property, the web remains on the face of the transfer belt also on curved runs of the web. In a group of drying cylinders with single wire draw and provided with a transfer belt, it is, thus, not necessary to employ so-called suction rolls as reversing cylinders.
When the speeds of paper machines become higher, said problems of runnability, in particular in the beginning of the dryer section, are emphasized. With increasing running speeds, it has become necessary to avoid open draws of the web also between the press section and the dryer section. As is known from the prior art, it has been suggested that said draw is closed, among other things, by picking up the web directly from the face of a press roll by means of a suction roll onto a drying wire. Also, in a way known from the prior art, a transfer belt has been used in the press section, which belt does not receive water and does not wet the web and from which belt the web has been picked up as a closed draw onto the drying wire of a cylinder group or directly onto the face of the first cylinder. Said technique has not yet become very common. One potential problem is the transfer of the web from the transfer belt to the dryer section, and an embodiment of the present invention attempts to reduce this problem.